Carpe Diem #1638 (delayed post) tranquil (nodoka)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a delayed episode of our Spring kigo month, April 2019. I had a busy evening shift so I hadn't time to create a new episode on time. So my excuses for that.

This month we are exploring modern and classical kigo for spring and today I have a classical kigo for you, tranquil (nodoka). Spring has started and I enjoy this season with an intensity I cannot describe. I like seeing how nature comes alive again, but what I love the most is the tranquility of an early spring morning. The sun is slowly rising, birds praising their Creaor and slowly but certain the tranquility fades away. The world comes alive again after a tranquil night.

tranquility
the first torii (*) in the middle
of the barley field

© Shiki

(*) A Torii is the sacred archway of a Shinto shrine. Every Shinto shrine had three of these Torii, which weren't direct in front of the shrine, but quite in a distant. This Torii in Shiki's haiku was the first and stood in the middle of a barley field. It's a wonderful imagery of the tranquility of Spring.

tranquility -
finally I have found peace,
blossoms have fallen

© Koyu-Ni (Tr. Chèvrefeuille)

[...] Koyu-Ni died in 1782, her family name was Matsumato. She is one of the more prominent woman poets of the Edo period. She learned haiku from Songi the First. [...]

Well ... I hope I have inspired you.

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will reamin open until April 8th at noon (CEST). I will try to publish our new episode later on. For now ... have fun!

Carpe Diem #1633 Wedding

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

Welcome at a new episode of our wonderful Kai. As you know I have changed our theme for this month instead of Kumano Kodo it's now A New Route Leaving Kumano Kodo a journey along modern and classical kigo (seasonwords) for spring. Yesterday I started with "desire" taken from Jane Reichhold's "A Dictionary of Haiku" and today I have another nice modern kigo for spring also taken from "A Dictionary of Haiku".

Today our modern kigo is "wedding". I can hear you think "why is wedding a modern kigo?" Let me try to explain that. In Nature Religions, like Shinto and Paganism for example, it is not done to marry in the dark part of the year (autumn and winter), but in the light part of the year you can marry. So that's why Jane has chosen to bring "wedding" as a modern kigo for spring.
Ofcourse I don't know what kind of religion Jane belonged to, but what I know ... she was a haiku poet and as you all know haiku is rooted in nature ... so maybe that was Jane's reason to bring "wedding" as a spring kigo.

Pagan Wedding (image found on Pinterest)

Here are a few examples of haiku by Jane Reichhold themed "wedding":

rehearsing vows
in the middle of the night
frogs

honeymooners

boats in the harbor

anchored together

© Jane Reichhold

Two beautiful haiku themed "wedding". I am married for 28 years next month and I am still deeply in love with my wife. We had a wonderful (low budget) wedding, but we enjoyed it very much. We celebrated our wedding at our home with all of our loved ones ... yes it was a wonderful day that I will never forget.

early this morning

the sound of church bells

through the mist

© Chèvrefeuille

And I ran into a nice haiku in my archive, that in a way resonates with the above haiku. I revised the original by the way to make the connection a little bit clearer.

croaking frogs

the old mansion is alive

a farmer's wedding

© Chèvrefeuille 

What a joy it was to create this episode for you all. It's a small token of my love for Jane Reichhold and my love for our CDHK family. Have fun!

This episode is NOW OPEN for your submissions and will remain open until April 1st at noon (CET). Have a wonderful day ...!

Carpe Diem #1268 shuntoo (spring lantern)

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

I still cannot belief that CDHK is still here after five wonderful years. We have done it! Without you my dear haijin CDHK couldn't excist and I am grateful for your participation. Several of you have been here since the early days of CDHK and that makes me happy.
We have seen a lot of places and we have explored unknown places, but we have also been inspired by classical and non-classical kigo (seasonwords) and today I love to do one of those kigo. This kigo was our prompt back in March 2013, it's a classical kigo for spring. Today we have "shuntoo" (spring lantern) to inspire you (again).

I love those wonderful Japanese garden lanterns, but spring lanterns aren't made of stone, as are the garden lanterns, but made of paper to be exactly, made from rice-paper. As I look at those paper lanterns they look somewhat like lampions.

Shuntoo (spring lantern, Edo period)

In our episode of March 2013 I shared a wonderful haiku by Issa, one of the five greatest haiku poets ever, which I love to share here again.

chôchin de tabako fuku nari haru no kaze

smoking a pipe
by lantern light...
spring breeze

© Kobayashi Issa

And one of the participants then shared a wonderful "chained" haiku series, or maybe I have to call it cascading haiku. John Belchamber is the name of that participant and he shared the following haiku:

flickering lantern
attracting moths from shadows
kimono slips off

kimono slips off
geisha knows her part by heart
shadow puppetry

shadow puppetry
silhouette of love’s embrace
goose down on futon

goose down on futon
tale of now and yen, beside
flickering lantern

© John Belchamber

Japanese lampions (shuntoo)

Look at those colors, must be an awesome sight to see them all burning in a moonlit night, or in a moonless night.

spring breeze
lampions move gracefully
moonless night

© Chèvrefeuille

You can find the original episode HERE

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7:00 PM (CET) and will remain open until October 11th at noon (CET). I will try to publish our new episode, reflection, later on. For now ... have fun!